<h2>Name</h2>
<p>
The Surah takes its name from verse 41 in which the word <em>`Ankabut</em>
(Spider) has occurred.
</p>
<h2>Period of Revelation</h2>
<p>
Verses 56 to 60 clearly show that this Surah was sent down a little
before the migration to Habash, and this is supported by the internal
evidence of the subject matter as well. Some commentators have opined
that since it mentions the hypocrites, and hypocrisy appeared in
Madinah, the first ten verses of this Surah were revealed at Madinah
and the rest of it at Makkah; whereas the people whose hypocrisy has
been mentioned here are those who had adopted a hypocritical way of
life because they were afraid of the oppression and extreme physical
torture to which the Muslims were being subjected by the disbelievers.
Evidently, this kind of hypocrisy could be there only at Makkah and
not at Madinah. Similarly, some other commentators, seeing that in
this Surah the Muslims have been exhorted to migrate, have regarded it
as the last Surah to be revealed at Makkah, whereas the Muslims had
migrated to Habash even before their migration to Madinah. These
opinions are not based on any tradition but on the internal evidence
of the subject matter, and this internal evidence, when considered
against the subject matter of the Surah as a whole, points to the
conditions prevailing in the time of the migration to Habash and not
to the last stage at Makkah.
</p>
<h2>Theme and Subject matter</h2>
<p>
A perusal of the Surah shows that the period of its revelation was the
period of extreme persecution of the Muslims at Makkah. The
disbelievers were opposing and fighting Islam tooth and nail and the
new converts were being subjected to the severest oppression. Such
were the conditions when Allah sent down this Surah to strengthen and
encourage the sincere Muslims as well as to put to shame those who
were showing weakness of the faith. Besides, the disbelievers of
Makkah have been threatened and warned not to invite for themselves
the fate that the antagonists of the Truth have been experiencing in
every age. 
</p>
<p>
In this connection, the questions that some young men answered. For instance, their parents were urging them to abandon Muhammad (may Allah's peace be
upon him), and return to their ancestral religion, for they argued:
"The Qur'an in which you have put your faith, regards the rights of
the parents as the uppermost; therefore, listen to what we say;
otherwise you will be working against the dictates of your own Faith."
This has been answered in verse 8. 
</p>
<p>
Similarly, the people of some clans
said to the new converts to Islam, "Leave the question of punishments,
etc., to us. Listen to us and abandon this man. If God seizes you in
the Hereafter, we will come forward and say, 'Lord, these people are
innocent: we had forced them to give up the Faith; therefore, seize
us'." This has been dealt with, in vv. 12-13. 
</p>
<p>
The stories mentioned in
this Surah also impress the same point mostly, as if to say, "Look at
the Prophets of the past: they were made to suffer great hardships and
were treated cruelly for long periods. Then, at last they were helped
by Allah. Therefore, take heart: Allah's succour will certainly come.
But a period of trial and tribulation has to be undergone." Besides
teaching this lesson to the Muslims, the disbelievers also have been
warned, as if to say, "If you are not being immediately seized by
Allah, you should not form the wrong impression that you will never be
seized. The signs of the doomed nations of the past are before you.
Just see how they met their doom and how Allah succoured the
Prophets." 
</p>
<p>
Then the Muslims have been instructed to the effect: "If
you feel that the persecution has become unbearable for you, you
should give up your homes, instead of giving up your Faith: Allah's
earth is vast: seek a new place where you can worship Allah with the
full peace of mind." Besides all this, the disbelievers also have been
urged to understand Islam. The realities of <em>Tauhid</em> and the Hereafter
have been impressed with rational arguments, <em>shirk</em> have been refuted,
and drawing their attention towards the signs in the universe, they
have been told that all these Signs confirm the teachings that the
Prophet is presenting before them.
</p>

